9 Ways to Defeat the Monsters

1. Admit that they are exactly what they say they are: Monsters, Angels, Creatures, Darkness, Devils. Call them by name. Let them hear the title they have given themselves slip from your lips and into the air.

2. Do not try to run. They will catch you. If you do try to run, do not look back. The monsters will always be there when you look back. Even if they gives you a head start, they will always drag you back kicking and screaming.

3. Don't interpret their words. They do not speak the gospel. They do not let words fly towards you encased in marshmallow fluff. Their words will cut like glass if you listen hard enough.

4. Give them what they want on a surface level. Do not put your emotions into the task. They will sense the rising endorphins. They will take advantage of these chemical reactions.

5. Allow them to do all the talking. If you talk back, you are allowing a personal response. If you respond to their command in kind with more words, your breath will become their new perfume, and your voice will be their new soundtrack.

6. Do not try to draw them. It doesn't matter if you are an expert at art or if you can hardly draw stick figures. Do not, in any case, try to draw the monsters. They will stick it up on the wall when you are finished, and it will never come down. They will never go away if you try to draw them. And more accurately, they will torture you for every mistake you made in the drawing.

7. Leave the lights on. Their eyes have a harder time functioning during the day. Lights stimulate the sun. Do not sit in a dark room; they will find you.

8. Don't look them in the eyes. Their eyes are the first things to capture your soul and ensnare your mind. Their eyes will kill you if you let them.

9. There is no fighting the monsters. There is only obeying them and surviving them.